We often get questions about modifying our rules. People feel that certain changes or additions would improve the rules. We have a two part response to all of those who want to make changes. You should know that these rules were developed over a period of 17 years with a year and a half of intense effort for the final production.
The first part is, that once you buy the rules, you can make any changes you want. In fact, in the next issue we will print two optional rules that are currently being playtested by a gaming group on Long Island. However, writing rules is not a simple process, and that brings us to part two of our response.
Battalions In Crisis! is a unified system with two goals. One is to create a good simulation and the second a game that is playable. Of course, each person has their own definitions of simulation and playable which may vary significantly from ours. In any case, if you decide to make changes, you should consider the following points.
1. When taking a single rule and looking at it in isolation, the rule may seem to be unrealistic. Often, by itself the rule is unrealistic. However, it is part of a system and works with the other rules to form an integrated whole. Since we are working in a table top environment, it is not possible to actually recreate all of the conditions that affect real operations. Therefore, what we aim for is results-not necessarily individual rulesthat reflect reality. Individual rules are only the means of getting to that reality.
2.Changing any one rule, no matter how seemingly insignificant, can affect many other rules. This can create an unending chain reaction throughout the rules.
3.Do not confuse the history from movies and table top books with reality. German vehicles, for example, were often inferior to those of their enemies, especially in 1940, 1941, and 1944-45. What made the Germans successful was their tactics and small unit leadership. The Germans also took heavy casualties, something not generally mentioned when discussing France 1940 or Russia in the summer of 1941. By the time the British started their retreat towards Dunkirk, the Germans were looking for ways to pull the tank divisions out of combat.
Before the Germans could start the second phase of their invasion they had to reorganize many of their Panzer Divisions because they had lost 50 percent of their armored fighting vehicles. Therefore, if your troops are not as successful as you think they were historically, look to changing your tactics, not creating more powerful vehicles or rules to let you do things differently.
4.Be very careful of using parade ground or text book data. For example, an 88 mm flak gun could accurately fire 30 rounds a minute. Faster than that, the gun barrel vibrated too much to aim the weapon. Our 88 mm flak fires 3 rounds a turn, and we do not believe anybody other than a German player would want to play a game with that kind of weapon.
5.In some instances, special or unusual circumstances may require the umpire to make a specific decision. These decisions should pertain only to that event and do not require rules to be written. You cannot possibly write rules ahead of time to cover every situation, so do not try. Let the umpire make a decision or roll a die and keep the game moving. Keeping the game moving is very important. We could have added dozens more rules and details, but the increase in "historical accuracy," if any, slowed the game down to the point where it was not fun to play any more.
To summarize, our rules are not perfect. Some areas are based on our perception of reality. This "reality" is based on detailed reviews of small unit actions, not comments made in books reviewing the actions at division and higher levels. Our 17 years of play testing was required to get the rules to reflect the outcomes of those actual battles. If you find the game to be more enjoyable when you modify the rules that is fine with us. We just want people to have fun while hopefully learning a little on the side about small unit tactics and operations.
I want to thank Michael Dwyer for his well written article on Sherman tanks. I would like to see more such submissions as we are sure that there are many people out there with good information. Also our appreciation to Kevin Garbleman for his different and enjoyable approach to writing up a game replay.
Until next time, good luck and good gaming.
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© Copyright 1995 by Mike Vogell and Phoenix Military Simulations.
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